Dragonflies

Dragonflies have to be my favourite insects. Sol, Leo and Noah are fascinated by them too. We spent long periods of time recently at watersides enjoying both dragonflies and damselflies.

They are beautiful, powerful, majestic, mysterious and most certainly magical.

Dragonflies were among the first flying insects to exist of Earth. They belong to two elements - air and water.

Water is vital for them as they spend a long larval stage in an aquatic environment. Some species spend as long as five years as nymphs. When they reach their final moult, the dragonfly leaves the water, and waits for the sun to rise to dry its wings then off it goes, a magnificent flying creature!

In the air, they are skilful, powerful flyers darting swiftly in a haze of bright light, shimmering above the water, twisting, turning, changing direction, even going backwards.

They are vorocious hunters, amongst the most powerful predators of the insects world.

During mating, dragonflies incredibly form a heart shape.

Damelsflies and dragonflies look similar and share many characteristics. Damselflies are smaller and appear more delicate. You can tell them apart by their wings. Dragonfly wings remain horizontal when resting, while damselfly wings remain vertical over its body.

There are many lores and legends surrounding dragonflies, in cultures across the world.

In Swedish legend, the Devil gave dragonflies the task of weighing the souls of humans.

In English legend, they apparently sew the eyelids together of unsuspecting people napping close to water. Hence, they became known as the 'Devil's darning needles'.

They are also more positively associated with symbols of light and hope.

Some say they are really fairies....

Here's our rainbow dragonfly mobile. The dragonfly bodies are made of clay, we used maple tree keys as wings and we painted the bodies different colours with watercolour paint when the clay hardened.

The pictures aren't good. The dragonflies look so beautiful fluttering in the breeze. We have multicoloured, red, orange, blue, purple, yellow and green dragonflies.

So, next time you see one of these magnificent, magical creatures, make a secret wish as it might just be a fairy.